South Korea arrests trainee doctor over ‘blacklist’ of non-striking colleagues

A doctor in South Korea has been detained for allegedly issuing and disseminating a “blacklist” of coworkers who are n’t taking part in a planned walkout over medical training reforms, according to reports and a doctor’s organization on Saturday ( Sep 21 ).

The event marks the second apprentice doctor’s arrest in the more than six months of legal dispute between young doctors and the government over the protracted labor stoppage, which has led to the deaths of some emergency patients.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the doctor was detained on Friday after reportedly creating a list with the brands and personal information of coworkers who had either returned to work or then abandoned the strike, and then consistently disseminating it with malicious purpose through apps like Telegram.

The Korean Medical Association ( KMA ), South Korea’s top medical organization, met with the detained trainee at a Seoul police station on Saturday, and the leader of the group later claimed that the government was to blame for the situation.

” I believe that everyone on the list, as well as the arrested apprentice doctor, is a victim”, KMA key Lim Hyun-taek told investigators.

According to Yonhap and other local reports, authorities in Yonhap and other local reports discovered that the apprentice had harassed the victims by sharing their knowledge, such as telephone numbers and their alma maters, without their consent. The apprentice was being detained on suspicion of chasing.